Goodwood Festival of Speed 2016: Behind the wheel at the Moving Motor Show

Sounds like a dream ticket, doesn’t it? A bunch of cars and a clear race track, and you get to try whichever you please.

So runs the offer of the Moving Motor Show, which takes place on the Thursday before each Goodwood Festival of Speed, and in which manufacturers make a selection of their cars available to show-goers for a spin up the Goodwood hill. It’s a chance for people to test-drive cars they might be thinking of buying – or have a go in something they’d never get a chance to drive elsewhere.

Not quite every car is available to drive, mind you – the more powerful options, such as the Aston Martins and Ferraris, require show-goers to take to the passenger seat for a high-octane ride up the hill with a professional driver at the wheel.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t find something to have some fun in. Ford has revealed its new ST200 here, a high-performance version of the Fiesta ST, and this too was available for drives up the hill. Also available to drive was Abarth’s hot new two-seat convertible, the 124 Spider. We managed to snaffle a slot in the latter, to find out just what it’s like to take part in the Moving Motor Show.

Get as close as you dare, then thread the car through the remaining corners, and power across the line in a blaze of glory

The answer? Brilliant. With appointed time slots for each driver, there’s no waiting – just turn up on stand, and you’re ushered to your car. A professional driver steers you out to the pre-start area, where you pull up and take over. Then, suddenly, there you are – sitting on the Goodwood start line in a sports car, ready to take on the hill.

Of course, you give it the best full-bore start you can manage, and the sense of speed as you race down the tree-lined driveway is still exhilarating. In the Abarth, it's magnified by the guttural engine note, and the delightful snuffles on each up-change.

The first bend arrives before you know it, so you have to be prepared to scrub off enough speed – it’s slippery here as you exit from beneath the trees. Pile the power back on as you steer through on to Park Straight, remembering all the times you’ve seen famous racers flying up here from the grandstands.

Sitting on the Goodwood start line is a great feeling

Then there’s a tight, left-right chicane to slow you, before you enter Molecomb, Goodwood’s most famous bend. It’s here that so many drivers have come a cropper, the blind crest obscuring the corner until the last minute. With that in mind, it’s best to be on the brakes sooner rather than later.

It’s a sharp left-hander, and then you can open the car up once more as you head up the hill toward Goodwood’s famous Wall. Get as close as you dare, and then thread the car through the remaining corners, which are open and sweeping, before the finish line comes into view, and it’s power all the way to cross the line in a blaze of glory.

The course doesn’t test the Abarth’s handling to the limits – it’s too open for that – but this little car’s sense of fun is still self-evident. We’ll look forward to driving it properly, out on the road.

But for now it’s been the perfect way of getting acquainted with the experience of driving at the Moving Motor Show – and it’s one we’d highly recommend.

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